# Nestor the Chronicler

Nestor the Chronicler or Nestor the Hagiographer (Church Slavonic: Нестор Летописец, romanized: Nestor Letopisec; c. 1056 – c. 1114) was a monk from the Kievan Rus who is known to have written two saints' lives: the Life of the Venerable Theodosius of the Kiev Caves and the Account about the Life and Martyrdom of the Blessed Passion Bearers Boris and Gleb.
Traditional historiography has also attributed to him the Primary Chronicle (PVL), the most revered chronicle of Kievan Rus', which earned him the nickname "the Chronicler". But several modern scholars have concluded he was not the author, because the Chronicle and known works of Nestor barely align, and frequently contradict each other in terms of style and contents. Given the authorship controversy, some scholars prefer calling him Nestor "the Hagiographer", to be identified with the two hagiographies which they do agree that he did write.

## Biography

In 1073 AD, Nestor was a monk of the Monastery of the Caves in Kiev. The only other detail of his life that is reliably known is that he was commissioned with two other monks to find the relics of St. Theodosius of Kiev, a mission which he fulfilled successfully.
Nestor died around 1114 and was buried in the Near Caves. He has been glorified (canonized) as a saint by the Eastern Orthodox Church. The body of St. Nestor is among the relics preserved in the Kiev Pechersk Lavra. His feast day is celebrated on October 27. He is also commemorated in common with other saints of the Kiev Caves Lavra on September 28 (Synaxis of the Venerable Fathers of the Kiev Caves) and on the Second Sunday of Great Lent.

## Purported authorship of the Primary Chronicle

Tradition long regarded the first compilation as the work of a monk named Nestor (c. 1056 – c. 1114), known to have written other works such as Life of the Venerable Theodosius. Writers of the time spoke of the Chronicle of Nestor, and of the author as Nestor "the Chronicler". Based on the 1661 Paterik of the Kyiv Monastery of the Caves, late 17th-century writers began to assert that Nestor "the Chronicler" wrote many of the surviving Rus' chronicles, including the Primary Chronicle, the Kievan Chronicle and the Galician–Volhynian Chronicle, even though many of the events they described took place in the 12th and 13th century, long after Nestor's death c. 1114. Another reason given for belief in Nestorian authorship was the word нестера in the opening lines of the Khlebnikov Codex (discovered in 1809), which some readers took to refer to Nestor "the Chronicler". But as Ostrowski (1981) pointed out: 'The word нестера was added in the Khlebnikov Codex, and thus cannot be used as evidence for the name of the compiler of the PVL. The word is not found in any of the other five main versions of the PVL, and is thus an interpolation inserted into the text by an editor, perhaps guessing at the author's name. From the 1830s to around 1900, there was fierce academic debate about Nestor's authorship, but the question remained unresolved, and belief in Nestorian authorship persisted. The internal evidence of the PVL and the known works of Nestor often contradict one another, while the contents barely coincide in places where they seemingly should, so modern scholars have concluded that Nestor was not the author.

## Veneration

Nestor the Chronicler was canonized by including his name in the Synaxis of all Venerable Fathers of the Kiev Caves.

### Feast Day

* 27 October – main commemoration, (with: Nestor of Thessaloniki and Nestor of the Far Kiev Caves)

### Fixed Feast Day (Synaxes)

* 25 May – Synaxis of Saints of Volhynia (Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia and Greek Orthodox Church)
* 15 July – Synaxis of All Saints of Kiev (Russian Orthodox Church - ROC)
* 28 September – Synaxis of the Venerable Fathers of the Kiev Near Caves
* 10 October – Synaxis of Saints of Volhynia (ROC)
* 27 October – Synaxis of All Saints of Kiev Theological Academy and Kiev Theological Seminary [Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate)]

### Moveable Feast Day (Synaxes)

* Synaxis of all Venerable Fathers of the Kiev Caves – movable holiday on the 2nd Sunday of the Great Lent
* Synaxis of the Saints of the Kievan Caves Monastery, venerated in the near caves of Venerable Anthony – movable holiday on the 1st Saturday after Leavetaking of the Elevation of the Cross (21 September)

## Liturgical hymns

Troparion St. Nestor — Tone 4
   Вели́ких князе́й ру́сских дея́ния/ и преподо́бных оте́ц Пече́рских жития́ и чудеса́ написа́вый,/ свое́ же, Богому́дре Не́сторе, мно́гих ти ра́ди доброде́телей и́мя/ напи́сано на Небеси́ стяжа́вый,// моли́ и нам написа́тися в Кни́ги Живо́тныя.
   Velikikh knyazey russkikh deyaniya/ i prepodobnykh otets Pecherskikh zhitiya i chudesa napisavy,/ svoe zhe, Bogomudre Nestore, mnogikh ti radi dobrodeteley imya/ napisano na Nebesi styazhavy,// moli i nam napisatisya v Knigi Zhivotnyya.
Common Troparion St. Nestor — Tone 4
   Времена́ и ле́та достопа́мятных дея́ний,/ по́двиги и труды́ Богоно́сных оте́ц,/ Не́сторе прему́дре, напису́я,/ любо́вию возгоре́лся еси́ после́довати стопа́м первонача́льных,/ с ни́миже не преста́й моли́тися Христу́ Бо́гу,// спасти́ся душа́м на́шим.
   Vremena i leta dostopamyatnykh deyany,/ podvigi i trudy Bogonosnykh otets,/ Nestore premudre, napisuya,/ lyuboviyu vozgorelsya esi posledovati stopam pervonachalnykh,/ s nimizhe ne prestay molitisya Khristu Bogu,// spastisya dusham nashim.
Kontakion St. Nestor — Tone 2
   Я́ко сый Богоно́снаго Феодо́сия учени́к/ и и́стинный жития́ того́ подража́тель,/ пе́рвый честны́х его́ моще́й самови́дец бы́ти сподо́бился еси́,/ я́же с про́чиими святоле́пно прене́с,/ насле́дил еси́ с те́миже Ца́рство Небе́сное,// е́же получи́ти и нам, чту́щим тя, Го́сподеви моли́ся.
   Yako siy Bogonosnago Feodosiya uchenik/ i istinny zhitiya togo podrazhatel,/ pervy chestnykh ego moshchey samovidets byti spodobilsya esi,/ yazhe s prochiimi svyatolepno prenes,/ nasledil esi s temizhe Tsarstvo Nebesnoe,// ezhe poluchiti i nam, chtushchim tya, Gospodevi molisya.

## Known works

* Life of the Venerable Theodosius of the Kiev Caves (1080s)
* Chtenie ("Reading", "Lesson", "Legend", "Account") about the Life and Martyrdom of the Blessed Passion Bearers Boris and Gleb (late 11th or early 12th century; dating heavily disputed).
** Abramovych, Dmytro, ed. (1916). "Чтение о Святых Мучениках Борисе и Глебе Chtenie o Svjatykh Muchenykakh Borise i Glebe" [Reading about the Holy Martyrs Boris and Gleb]. Жития святых мучеников Бориса и Глеба, и службы им Zhitija svjatykh muchenikov Borisa i Gleba, i sluzhby im [Lives of the holy martyrs Boris and Gleb, and services to them] (in Russian). Azbuka. Retrieved 8 January 2025. (based on the oldest manuscript, the 14th-century Silvestrovskij sbornik)
** Hollingsworth, Paul (1992). "Lesson on the life of Boris and Glěb". The Hagiography of Kievan Rusʹ. Boston: Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute. pp. 3–32. ISBN 978-0-916458-28-7.
* (disputed) Primary Chronicle, or The Tale of Bygone Years (ca. 1113)